From Norway to Cape Verde, but also to the Maldives, Zanzibar, Kenya, the Dominican Republic and Thailand. During the holidays, Italians take trips despite inflation and wars: the data from the Observatory Astoi Confindustria Viaggi, the Italian association of tour operators, is encouraging about the choices of Italians on the occasion of the upcoming end-of-year holidays, coinciding with the available time and the tendency to spend more and more on travel to spend.
“Reservations for high season,” he comments Pier Ezhaya, President of Astoi Confindustria Viaggi – They record an 11% growth in sales in 2022 and almost all the destinations involved show a positive trend, both in permanent seaside holidays and in more hiking trips “advance booking compared to 2022, a year still from the Covid queue affected, causing consumers to postpone bookings closer to the departure date. Trips or stays have an average duration of 8.5 days, slightly longer than last year.”
Among travelers who prefer to stay in Italy, the mountains always remain the protagonist in the winter season, so much so that in some cases volumes of up to +29% more than last year are recorded. In Europe, Iceland and Norway are the most popular travel destinations. The Christmas and New Year period saw year-on-year increases for these destinations of more than 23%.
In the middle area, the preference for Cape Verde and the Canary Islands partially offsets the decline in tourist flows to the Middle East and North Africa. In fact, there is no denying that the October 7 event in Israel and the events that followed had an impact on bookings, especially in the month of October, particularly towards classical Egypt, the Egyptian Red Sea, Jordan and the Arabian Peninsula; However, the emotional wave seems to have subsided and today cancellations have dropped significantly and bookings have started again. In percentage terms, the effects of the Middle East conflict were primarily attributable to Egypt (-13%) and Jordan (-49%); The data appears more negative considering that the trend before the attack on Israel showed significant growth in both destinations.
The wide range rewards the Indian Ocean, East Africa, the East and the Caribbean. The desire to stay by the sea and in the heat leads us to book the Maldives, Zanzibar, Kenya, Thailand and Indonesia in addition to the Dominican Republic. Those who prefer voyages of discovery choose the USA, Thailand, India, Vietnam, Argentina and South Africa; In this case, the average duration is 10 days, with the spending range varying from 3,000 euros for beach stays to over 4,000 euros for tours. In the cruise industry, Christmas and New Year's trips are among the most popular in the annual program because it is a special time of year when people particularly want to celebrate on board. According to data recently published on the occasion of Italian Cruise Day, the most important cruise event in Italy, in 2023 almost 13 million passengers will be carried by cruise ships in Italian ports: this is the historical record in the last 30 years.
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